Long-delayed global Ceylon Tea campaign to kickoff next year

From left: Sri Lanka Tea Board Tea Commissioner E. A. K. J Edirisinghe, Tea Board Chairman Niraj de Mel, Tea Board Director General Anura Siriwardena, and  Tea Board Director Promotions Pavithri Peiris 
 Pic by Nimalsiri Edirisinghe

• Campaign to be rolled out in 20 countries; Russia to become first 
• Tea Board says all previous issues in executing the campaign resolved
• Rs. 2.5bn allocated for promotions in 2023
• Campaign will focus on sustainability factors of Ceylon Tea
• A key objective of the campaign is to mitigate negative publicity received by the country and sector in recent times
• “Modest” growth targets for the tea industry expected in 2023- Tea Board Chairman

By Shabiya Ali Ahlam
The global tea promotions campaign, which has been conceptualised and tweaked for many years is expected to kickoff in 2023, the Sri Lanka Tea Board said yesterday.
As Ceylon Tea is struggling to retain its place on international supermarket shelves due to lower production, which results in lower exports and losing market share to other origin teas that are more price-friendly, the Tea Board is stepping up promotional efforts.

The campaign will be rolled out in 20 countries, of which the focus will be on retaining and growing the market share in Ceylon Tea consuming markets and exploring opportunities to in untapped markets. The issues faced in the past in rolling out the global tea campaign which is essentially funded by the private sector via CESS tax, have been resolved and ironed out,according to Tea Board Director Promotions Pavithri Peiris. A Public Relations (PR) agency has also been selected to roll out the efforts, said Peiris, who did not share the identity and details of the shortlisted company.

The planned campaign would be first unveiled in the Russian Federation in January 2023.
The original plan was to target Russia and Ukraine together to promote Ceylon tea. 

But, due to the war situation in Ukraine, the campaign will be rolled out first in Russia. After Iraq and Turkey, Russia is the third largest importer of Ceylon Tea, and also has zero tax on tea imports from Sri Lanka.

In the third quarter of 2023, the campaign will be expanded to Japan, and in the fourth quarter, Ceylon Tea will come under fresh spotlight in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and Australia.

For the year 2023, a sum of Rs.2.5 billion will be spent on rolling out the campaign. Promotional efforts for the year 2022 thus far have amounted to Rs.300 million.

Touching on the campaign strategy, Peiris shared that the promotion will focus on the sustainability factors of Ceylon Tea, which is what the majority of the consumers seek.
While the purity and sustainability of Ceylon Tea will be the highlight, the main objective of the effort is to mitigate the negative publicity the country and the tea industry has received in recent times.

In terms of diversifying the product offering, the Tea Board said, moving forward, much of the emphasis will be on value addition, where ready-to-drink product lines will be explored.
For the same, efforts are underway to obtain the Geographical Indicator (GI), which is the placing of the ‘Lion logo’ on ready-to-drink beverages that are made with Ceylon Tea.
For year 2023, the Tea Board is forecasting a “modest” growth for the local tea sector, Tea Board Chairman Niraj de Mel said.

The authority estimates a production of 290 MnKgs, and export revenue of US$ 1.4 billion for 2023.